The impact of media convergence: By Mike Proulx

Games

March 15, 2013

The first of 52 episodes of
Rovio’s Angry Birds Toons launches to
the world this weekend. But you won’t be watching it on television – or will
you?

The idea of a video game
spawning a cartoon “TV” series is nothing new. I vividly remember playing
Pac-Man in the early 80s at the local arcade and then watching its Saturday
morning cartoon on ABC.

What is new about Rovio’s approach is their distribution strategy that
bypasses U.S. television networks. The company is placing its bets on the hyper
connected on-the-go/on-demand consumer. With bite-sized content (each episode
is 3 minutes long), smart TVs (Samsung), connected TV devices (Roku), plus
smartphones, laptops, and tablets is how potential viewers can consume Angry Birds Toons.

Rovio’s biggest asset? Their 1.5 billion app installs worldwide that will now feature a button on the games’ home screen - shepherding
its users to take a few minutes to watch some good old “television” and
hopefully attracting advertisers in the process.

But with over 100 million TV
households in the U.S. is Rovio missing out on a mass audience? A partnership with
Comcast distributes Angry Birds Toons
via Xfinity on-demand and the Xfinity TV Player. That’s the closest step Rovio
has taken (so far) to reach the mainstream TV audience. We’ll soon see if it’s
enough…

February 06, 2011

Last week, Hill Holliday conducted a social gaming poll which was by no means a scientific study. Of the 260 people who took the poll, 74 currently play social games (like FarmVille or CityVille).

The one set of responses that jumped out at me is the fact that 80% of people start playing these games because of a referral (either direct invite or WOM) from a friend or family member.

But I suppose it’s not really a surprise as Zynga, especially, architects a number of “hooks” into its games to lure friends in and keep them engaged.

Our respondents play social games to “relax from work” and also to “accumulate” stuff (which is, generally, the whole point of the games in the first place.)

But what are they giving up to play? The top reasons are:

Watching TV

Reading

Sleeping

Exercising

And, finally, ad tolerance was pretty resounding in that our social gamers want branded experiences that don’t take them away from or interrupt their game.

The advertising executions that are seen as most “attractive” are those that support or enhance the actual game itself such as getting “stuff” that’s relevant to the game or unlocking additional content.

January 15, 2011

As if there already wasn’t a lot of buzz about the opportunity for advertisers within social games. But , now, with Zynga’s CityVille surpassing 100 million users in less than 2 months, the conversation has intensified -- and for good reason. Let’s look at a few numbers:

What is it about these games?There are a number of factors that are causing people to engage in droves:

They’re simple to play if you know how to click a mouse

They encourage and reward progress providing validation

They provide a temporary mindless escape from the issues of the world

Their social features really do make you feel connected to your friends

The instant gratification of progressing makes one crave more

And one of the biggest draws is that people play on their own time and their own terms.

Who’s playing?A study from about 8 months ago reported that the profile of the social gamer is a 43 year old woman. Interesting, but there’s a lot more to the story and we want to know more. Hill Holliday will soon be conducting a poll to learn more about the mindset of the social gamer and what really drives them to regularly engage. Stay tuned for more info.

As prep, today I played my very first social game (CityVille) so that I could get a firsthand look at what’s really going on. As I engaged, I logged my stream of consciousness as I played. Here it is:

May 23, 2010

When I heard the other day that Namco’s popular arcade game, Pac-Man, was turning 30, I had to do a double take. How was that possible?

I remember, like it was yesterday, the anticipation of the occasional Sunday night family jaunt to Louisa’s Pizza (which, at the time, had an adjacent arcade room). My brother and I burned through quarters playing Centipede, Galaga, and, of course, Pac-Man while waiting for our Pizza. But that was the early 1980s and it’s now 2010.

Was it nostalgia? Maybe. Or was it a simple elegance that, for a very brief moment, gave me pause from just how complicated (yet amazing) life, as enabled by technology, has become. (So he says as he downloads Pac-Man to his iPad ;-)

April 03, 2010

While there will be many-a-child tomorrow searching for eggs filled with candy for those who celebrate Easter, one need not wait for Peter Cottontail to arrive. Here are a 6 “Easter Eggs” embedded across media channels that are persistent year-round.

It’s been under a year since the service was announced (at 2009’s SXSW) and it seems as though user-behavior and technology are primed, ripe and aligned going into 2010 for location-based services like Foursquare to scale for mass usage like we’ve already seen from Twitter and Facebook.

And now is a good time for brands to take advantage of some early “test and learn” opportunities with the service to establish a foothold within an almost certain-to-grow user base.